Eric Dempsey on behalf of Heritage in Schools came to our school on Wednesday 15th March. He is an ornithologist which means he studies and protects birds. He had many feathers and wings from different birds. We learned a lot about birds.

We conducted an experiment where we all put our hands up behind our ears and Eric got a whole barn owls wing and he flapped it but we could hear no noise. Then he got out a single swan feather and flapped it and it was very loud compared to the barn owl. There’s little hairs on the back of the owls wing to decrease wind resistance and this helps to reduce noise. He told us how to distinguish between a left wing feather and a right wing feather on a swan. They are different shapes. The tail feathers of a peacock and a finch on the male spreads out and whichever bird had the most colourful tail spread would attract the best mate. This also worked to protect the male bird’s territory.

Swallows: Once a year they make a journey that is 10,000km to summer in South Africa while it is winter in Ireland and then they come back to Ireland via the Sahara Desert. They stop in the middle of the rain forest to eat bugs, drink water to prepare themselves for the journey across the Sahara. It takes five days and nights to cross the desert and they don’t stop to rest. The swallows in your area always come back to where they were born. Not all of them survive.

All of third class found Eric very interesting and they listened attentively. Eric gave us a gift. Once a year, spend five seconds to look at your first swallow in spring and think about the incredible journey that little bird who weighs the same as ½ bag of crisps with the brain the size of a pea has undertaken to get back to Ireland.

Second class took part in the DLRCC organised Primary Arts Programme. In this programme an established artist comes in weekly to work with the children in a specific medium and topic. Tunda was our artist this year and she worked with the children on exploring light and shadow and helped create a class project based on the theme. The children became real artists as they worked through the creative process to produce some beautiful pieces of work. They then held an exhibition of their work on Tuesday, March 13th. Here is just a sample of their work.

Our Green Schools Inspection was held on Monday March 12th. A representative from DLRCC Green Schools department spent some time in the school looking at the work done by the children as part of the Green Schools programme, but more importantly, speaking to the children about what they had learned in doing the work. He told us he was very impressed by the level of engagement of the children, by the extent of their knowledge and their enthusiasm for the topic. We look forward to hearing very shortly whether we have achieved our sixth green flag. Follow this link to see some of our work towards our flag:

On Tuesday 13 February, Third Class visited Croke Park. We had a great day. The tour guide (Cian) showed the class a short film depicting some of the highs and lows experienced by sports people. He then brought us on an access all areas (pretty much) tour. We saw the dressing rooms with the jerseys of every county on display. We stood pitch side and gazed up at the amazing stands. We sat in the Hogan Stand and impressed the guide with Third Class’s enthusiasm about and knowledge of the stadium’s history, from the founding of the GAA to Bloody Sunday to the Thunder and Lightning Match. We ventured to seats high in the Cusack stand for a birds-eye view of the pitch and the city. We even went to a corporate box to see the nice facilities available to those willing and able to pay for them! Last but by no mean’s least we went to the play area where the children had some fun trying their hurling, passing and other skills using interactive equipment. Tired but happy we headed back to RETNS where one further treat awaited us – a delicious pancake! A good day all around!